Student Council wants to make it easier to access and dispose of sanitary products

Two motions passed at October’s Student Council meeting would make it easier for students to purchase and dispose of sanitary products.

The first motion, proposed by Sama E Deen, would see sanitary bins introduced to the male toilets so that members of the trans community are not discriminated against. According to Deen, this is something that has been requested on multiple occasions. The impact of this policy would be “[Transgender students] finding it convenient and comfortable to use the male toilets without concerns”.

The second motion, proposed by Lucy Madeley, stated that all toilets in QMSU buildings should have provisions for both purchasing individual sanitary products and disposal of sanitary products.

Similar to the first motion, this would put sanitary bins in male toilets, but ensure that they can definitely also be found in the ladies’, disabled, and gender neutral toilets.

In terms of accessing sanitary products, there was discussion about installing dispensers that would charge around £1. Madeley said: “These are not the cheapest way obviously, but they sometimes are the easiest option”.

One reason, from the motion proposal, for why this policy was wanted read: “There is no provision to buy sanitary products in Drapers, meaning that students would have to leave event nights to purchase sanitary products, which is impractical and possibly dangerous”.

Although both motions passed with overwhelming majorities, the execution ultimately comes down to Queen Mary itself rather than the Students’ Union. The Union will lobby the University for the implementation of these; however nothing is guaranteed. A few years ago, a Student Council motion was passed which wanted to provide free sanitary products around campus; however this never materialised.